News - Melbourne Medibrain Centre

Australian Doctor – 18 March 2011

“Therapists ‘diluting’ mental health care”

“The proliferation of under-qualified mental health practitioners is fuelling an epidemic of misdiagnosis and endangering people with severe mental illness, leading psychiatrists warn. With the Federal Government relaxing criteria of referrals under the Better Access initiative, experts claim the distinction has been lost between medically trained psychiatrists and any therapist with a degree in psychology. As a result, serious problems were being missed while mild problems were over treated, typically at Medicare’s expense, according to psychiatrists at St Vincent’s Clinic in Sydney.”

“We are moving towards a generic soup of mental health workers where everyone thinks they’re a doctor, yet no one takes responsibility,” Dr Miller said. “It has to stop…patients deserve to have a proper diagnosis.” Dr Miller’s comments were backed by Melbourne psychiatrist Professor Louise Newman, immediate past president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, who described the “dilution” of mental healthcare as “threatening and misleading”.